This week on The Debrief, Josh Durso and Jackie Augustine are talking housing, budgets, local government headaches and the growing affordability crunch across the Finger Lakes.
They start in Canandaigua, where some pretty modest zoning changes aimed at creating more housing were pushed off until 2027. That turns into a bigger conversation about why communities keep studying problems they already understand, and why elected officials can be so hesitant to move forward even when the solutions are sitting right in front of them.
From there, it’s on to Seneca Falls, where questions continue to pile up around outside accounting costs, town staffing and Supervisor Frank Schmitter’s notice of claim against the town.
Then they head to Geneva, where the city’s budget process raises questions about taxes, public safety spending, long-term sustainability and what residents should actually expect from local government when money gets tight.
To wrap things up, Josh shares some takeaways from his recent interview with United Way New York State President and CEO Therese Daly about the latest ALICE data — and why more working families are finding it harder to cover basics like housing, food and transportation.
It’s a wide-ranging conversation about what’s happening in local government, why affordability keeps getting worse and why so many of these problems feel a lot more solvable than they’re being treated.
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